A Savage look at life in the Orient; weekend tv.

LILY SAVAGE has been unfrocked! The blonde bombsite has been sent packing and instead Paul O'Grady is stepping out of the shadow of his peroxide alter ego to front his own travel series.

"I'm not wearing wigs, I'm not wearing stilettos," he cries. "I'm wearing Chinese gear."

Paul is quick to point out he is no Michael Palin or Judith Chalmers and jokingly warns unsuspecting viewers "I'm going to make Elton John look like Marie Osmond."

It is no wonder ITV are launching the six-part series Paul O'Grady's Orient on Monday in a late-night slot, at 10pm.

The TV specials see him travelling to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bali, Java, Bangkok and Singapore. It is a part of the world he knows well . . . 20 years ago he worked as the the only western waiter in a Manila whorehouse.

"Don't expect nothing classy," says Paul in a voice that still rings with Lily's famous dulcet tones. "The series is a succession of disasters. I dislocate my knee, get bitten by mosquitoes, am arrested in Bali because I don't have a work permit and end up with every pimp, gangster and whore chasing me round the East." He pouts his unpainted lips: "It's quite riveting really."

Paul was a social worker before he put on Lily's trademark blonde locks for an amateur night in south London.

It has led to him fronting his own TV show, sell-out tours and videos and following in the footsteps of Les Dawson and Terry Wogan by hosting Blankety Blank. The creator of the Scouse she-devil even starred in panto for the first time earlier this year in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs in Birmingham.

Paul sometimes finds it hard to believe all the success that has come his way. "I thought I'd just go round the pubs and clubs until I became a tired old act and retired to Vauxhall Park with a bottle of cider," he smiles. "I never ever thought any of this would happen. I'm still quite shocked really. I'm the first to admit I find it all very weird."

The new series sees him without the safety net of Lily's presence, but Paul's humour still shines through as he sets off on the trail of the legendary Shanghai Lil, joins an elephant safari to a jungle temple and is serenaded by Imelda Marcos.

Paul says his fascination with the Orient dates to childhood. "My mother's side of the family were all sailors - well, the men were, the women weren't. They'd often go on long voyages, sometimes for a year, and all we'd ever get was postcards.

"There'd be postcards from Manila, Bangkok, Java, Hong Kong, Shanghai - all these exotic names. As a kid I used to think this was fabulous. And eventually, when they did come home, they'd bring with them all these things from the East - kimonos, tea services. Everybody in Liverpool had a tea service with a geisha girl on the bottom when you lifted the cup up."

But Paul laughingly remembers not all the gifts were appreciated. "They even brought a bush-baby home once," he recalls with a cheeky smile, "which was lovely during the day because they're nocturnal, but when my Auntie Annie went to bed it wrecked the house."